Elected as Dem, Felder will sit with Republicans

As expected, an incoming Brooklyn senator, elected as a Democrat, said Tuesday he’ll join the Republican conference. That means control of the State Senate could hinge on one upstate contest that’s still pending a recount. Simcha Felder last week defeated Sen. David Storobin (R-Brooklyn) in a heavily Democratic yet conservative-leaning district. He told a Brooklyn publication during the campaign...

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As expected, an incoming Brooklyn senator, elected as a Democrat, said Tuesday he’ll join the Republican conference.

That means control of the State Senate could hinge on one upstate contest that’s still pending a recount.

Simcha Felder last week defeated Sen. David Storobin (R-Brooklyn) in a heavily Democratic yet conservative-leaning district. He told a Brooklyn publication during the campaign he might join the Republican conference if elected. A week after his victory, he followed through.

“When the Senate meets in January 2013, I will caucus with my colleagues in the Republican conference,” Felder said in a statement. “I have enormous respect for senators from both parties, but I must choose to caucus with those senators who will best serve the communities I represent.”

Control of the State Senate is far from certain for either side right now.

Election Night results showed Democrats ahead in 33 of the 63 Senate races. But that included a race in a Capital Region-Catskills district where Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk leads Republican George Amedore by just 139 votes with an estimated 8,000 absentee and paper ballots to count.

A Tkaczyk win would seem to give Democrats control but there’s a possibility that the four-member “Independent Democratic Caucus,” led by Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), could throw their support behind Skelos.

The caucus last year broke off from the other Democrats in the chamber and occasionally voted with Republicans on key issues.

There is another recount in a Hudson Valley district, but Democrat Terry Gipson has a healthy 1,600-vote lead over Sen. Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie).

Skelos issued a statement saying Republicans would welcome Felder as “a valuable member of our conference.”

Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, countered that “the voters sent a clear message on election night that they want the Senate led by a Democratic majority.”